Fish and Cherries Productions

Terminator Salvation was definitely a cool movie, but don’t mistake that for meaning that it was a good movie; it was neither that nor really a Terminator movie. There were a few things that just felt wrong, like the human resistance having access to air support or the machines screaming as they attacked or the fact that the movie was PG-13 of all things. Okay, the director’s cut was rated R, but that was only because of a completely pointless bare breasts scene. On top of that, there were several opportunities where the Terminators could have killed their targets by snapping their necks or crushing their skull, but instead just threw them across the room and gave them an opportunity to fight back. Kind of dumb when your Terminators don’t, you know, terminate their target. The biggest hit, though, was that they gave Skynet a voice, a face, and a gloating monologue when her plan came to fruition. Giving any threat a face or even a voice gives the possibility for it to be reasoned with or talked down and completely destroys the notion of it being an indomitable presence to be feared with every fiber.

On its own, it’s really kind of a visually interesting but ultimately forgettable action film. This was made at that stage where everything was trying to be super serious and it has not aged well. Everything is shot through a grey filter and most of the people are shouting at each other. It all just feels so pointless because we’ve grown past these clichés. Also, I’m sorry, but Christian Bale simply does not have the charisma to be a leader for the last remnants of humanity, let alone John Connor, unless maybe the director wasn’t up to snuff. There are also a bunch of logical hiccups that take me out of the experience, like a twenty-foot robot being able to sneak up on a bunch of humans or people talking about a prophecy that, by the series’ own logic, no one should have heard of. The effects are cool, but not enough to hold the movie up. It’s not the worst movie I’ve seen and it doesn’t leave any huge insult to the franchise, but I can’t think of any way my life was enriched by watching Terminator Salvation.